Monday, December 28, 2015

At New Japan’s Wrestling Dontaku event, Hirooki Goto
defeated Shinsuke Nakamura to win the IWGP Intercontinental Championship.
Nakamura has lost the title four times, usually gaining it back before the new
champion makes any successful defenses. This was Goto’s first defense of the
title. Nakamura came out dressed like a fucking ninja. That’s right, ninja vs.
samurai. I was pretty sold once I saw that. The match itself started slowly as
they chose to build to something bigger with 22:40 to play with. Honestly, if
this was kept to a shorter length, I think it would have been a bit better, but
their G1 match was shorter and I preferred this so maybe that isn’t always the
case. Still, the final third of this match delivered big time, like it was a
Kazuchika Okada match or something. Once this started going, it was pretty
awesome. Goto had the Boma Ye very well scouted, and was able to counter it
multiple times before retaining his belt. Granted, Goto would never make
another successful defense as he lost the title to none other than Nakamura in
September. ****

84. Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Tetsuya Naito – NJPW G1 Climax
7/26/15

Early on in the G1 Climax, the “A” Block was my preferred
block (though that would change as the tournament went on). This was the fifth
night of the tournament and proved to be one of the better ones. In the main
event, Hiroshi Tanahashi faced Tetsuya Naito in a rematch of the finals of the
G1 two years earlier. I’ve never seen that match, but I heard it was a pretty
big disappointment. This was a very different Naito though, fully immersed in
his new heel persona. For me, it was in this match that Naito really started
nailing it. From his mannerisms early on to his actions during and after the
match, he was a total dick. On the Tanahashi side of things, the guy once again
proved that he is nowhere the end of his road. They worked a smart 24:14 match
that did a great job in establishing this Naito heel gimmick. A win over the
top guy in the company was absolutely a big way to show everyone that a new and
improved Tetsuya Naito had indeed arrived. ****

The stakes were high at the end of Pro Wrestling NOAH’s
Global League Tournament. Shelton X Benjamin represented the Suzuki-Gun
faction, led by current GHC Heavyweight Champion Minoru Suzuki. Naomichi
Marufuji was the NOAH guy. The winner would earn a shot at the GHC Heavyweight
Title. Marufuji is the guy that has to save NOAH from Suzuki-Gun and their
hostile takeover. I mean, throughout the year, Suzuki-Gun had a firm grasp on
every single belt in NOAH. He’s the last hope for the company and the crowd
reacted to this match as so. They were completely invested in the entire 24:06
of the match. Marufuji got out of the gate quickly, with some early near falls
and a series of superkicks. Shelton came back as the monster heel that he’s
become pretty good at playing. It’s a role I never envisioned for him, but he
nails it from what I’ve seen of him in NOAH. The interference from Suzuki-Gun
during this made sense and wasn’t overdone, so it worked. Benjamin survived
Shiranui Kai, but fell to Tiger Flowsion. It set Marufuji up as the top
contender for Suzuki’s belt in a showdown for not only the title, but NOAH as a
whole. ****

82. Ricochet vs. Zack Sabre Jr. – PWG Battle of Los Angeles
8/29/15

Of the three Battle of Los Angeles matches to
make the list, this was the longest at 23:04. Ricochet won the tournament the
year before but he faced a favorite for this year, Zack Sabre Jr., in the first
round. Ricochet is known for his freakish athleticism while Sabre is known for
being arguably the best technical wrestler on the planet. That clash of styles
is usually hit or miss and on this night, it hit. First things first, Ricochet
dedicated the match to Lil’ Sebastian of Parks and Recreation fame, instantly
getting a pop from me. Anyway, despite not being a highly touted technician,
Ricochet did a fine job in holding his own on the mat with Sabre. When he got
on offense, things were exciting though to be honest, Sabre is exciting even
when he’s just working the mat. The finishing stretch is pretty great, as
Ricochet pulls out a trio of suplexes and the 630 but can’t win. Sabre is able
to score the three on a bridging prawn hold, letting everyone know that there
would be a new BOLA champion this year, which would turn out to be Sabre
himself. ****

The Monday prior to
this episode of NXT, Becky Lynch, Charlotte and Sasha Banks made the jump to
the main roster to Kickstart the “Divas Revolution”, so the spotlight was
really on them here. Sasha ran into issues with Dana Brooke and Emma, needing a
partner. Charlotte came to her side, but with the condition that she receive a
shot at the NXT Women’s Title. Now, these two had some good to great matches in
the past, with this being about on par with their best efforts. I saw NXT live
in June and they basically had a carbon copy of this match. Even though I saw
it before, I was still really enjoying this contest. Their chemistry is nearly
always perfect and that’s part of the reason I think the WWE is waiting to give
these two ladies a big match on a relatively big stage. The final few minutes
of this are among the best stuff they’ve ever done together, including a great
spot where Charlotte has the figure four locked in and Sasha reaches the ropes.
Instead of breaking the hold, Charlotte holds on, falling outside while the
referee counted to five. It was pretty much the old Bret Hart ring post figure
four spot, but on the apron. Sasha would make it through that though, getting
Charlotte to tap out at 13:28. Sasha’s fantastic run in NXT would produce two
more top notch matches you’ll see later on the list. ****

This was my first year watching New Japan’s
World Tag League. I was told that it usually doesn’t feature many great,
standout matches, but mostly solid stuff. So when I tuned into the first night
of the tournament and saw the two main events, consider me wowed. Both were
among the best tag team matches I saw all year. The first saw a duo that I
really enjoy, Hirooki Goto and Katsuyori Shibata take on Shinsuke Nakamura and
Tomohiro Ishii. I’ve seen everyone in this match face each other, so I knew the
chemistry was there. The effort matched as, for the next 12:48, this was just
great stuff. Everything done in this match was hard hitting, exactly how I
expected. It didn’t matter if Ishii was in there with Shibata or if Nakamura
was battling Goto or any other combination, you were getting something
enjoyable. A Penalty Kick from Shibata put the NEVER Champion Ishii down for
the count, helping to set the stage for Shibata/Ishii at Wrestle Kingdom 10. ****

The only time on this
list that two matches from the same show will be paired together. After Goto,
Shibata, Nakamura and Ishii put on a great show, they were followed up by this
main event. YOSHI-HASHI is a guy that I never expected to make this list. He’s
not outwardly bad, but he’s just not very good. Michael Elgin got super over in
Japan during his G1 run. Nothing really even needs to be said about Hiroshi
Tanahashi and Kazuchika Okada at this point. Elgin and YOSHI started but when
Tanahashi got the tag, things got really good. He demanded Okada come in so
they could renew their rivalry a bit before their match at Wrestle Kingdom 10. Their
brawl was intense and physical, doing a great job of setting up WK10. It seems
like their upcoming WK10 match could be more physical than past encounters. Elgin
continued to impress when he was given the opportunity, looking like a
completely different man in Japan than in the States. Okada is the show stealer
here though, playing the smug dick so well. Elgin won it for his guys after two
powerbombs on YOSHI-HASHI at 17:10. ****

Polarizing is a word I’d use to describe the opinions on
this match. I’ve seen some call it amazing and some say it was one of the worst
Hell in a Cell matches in history. Personally, and obviously by it being on
this list, I’m closer to the former than the latter. The feud leading into this
was personal and despite it running for a while, culminating in the Cell was
fitting. They went out and made sure to have a pretty badass match within the
confines of the PG rating. I’ve heard a lot of people say that the Hell in a
Cell can’t work in that situation but I think they, and Brock and Taker later
on in the show, made it work. The weapons were brought into play, like kendo
sticks, tables and steel chairs. There were some great spots throughout, like
Roman Reigns using two kendo sticks at once to attack Bray Wyatt, Bray hitting
a uranage through a table and Reigns nailing one of his best Spears off the
apron and through a table. In the end, after 23:10, Reigns hit another Spear
and came out on top of this long rivalry. It was another feather in the cap of
a great 2015 for Roman Reigns. ****

For the fifth time in
his career, Shinsuke Nakamura captured the IWGP Intercontinental Title at
Destruction. The belt has become synonymous with Nakamura since he not only put
it on the map, but made it a very sought after title. It’s even main evented
Wrestle Kingdom in the past, and it headlined this Power Struggle event. Karl
Anderson defeated Nakamura early on in the G1 Climax, so he quickly asked for a
title shot and got it here. I liked their G1 match but it was certainly bested
here. As usual with most Bullet Club matches, when the interference isn’t
overdone, like here, it produces a relatively great match. Anderson held serve
for most of the match until Nakamura made the babyface rally. Props to Anderson
because, while he performed very well in this contest, he didn’t outshine
Nakamura, who obviously has to come off as the bigger star. Anderson is really
good at doing that. It was a tough task to work here since everyone knew
Shinsuke was retaining because of the open challenge set for Wrestle Kingdom
but they made me and many others buy into a few false finishes. Nakamura did retain
after a Boma Ye at 21:37 before being challenged by AJ Styles to a match at
Wrestle Kingdom 10. ****

After I was disappointed when Togi Makabe retained the
NEVER Openweight Championship at Destruction in Okayama, Tomohiro Ishii came
out and issued a challenge for the belt. Add in more disappointment from me. Not
because these two aren’t capable of a good match, but because it had been done
to death already in 2015. Their prior matches were either really good or really
disappointing. They apparently saved their best for last because this was
superior to those previous encounters. It was 17:54 of two dudes just beating
the fuck out of each other. For the most part, they didn’t reinvent the wheel
or do anything new, but it just all clicked better than usual. One new thing
was seeing Ishii bust out Makabe’s King Kong Knee Drop. Ishii was able to win
back the title, ending their series. For now at least. This set up the third
match in the Honma/Ishii 2015 series, which is much better than the
Ishii/Makabe series. If you only watch one Ishii/Makabe match from this year, I’d
say this is your safest bet for a great one. ****